Introducing Calvin Wright Spaces, LLC:
The Daufuskie Plan Set
Off the coast of South Carolina, across the Calibogue Sound, adventurous travelers will find the eight square miles of land that make up Daufuskie Island. Untethered to the mainland by bridges or roads, the island can only be reached by boat. When I was in grade school, my mother spent some time there during her Pharmacy School rotations, specifically as part of an educational experience in nontraditional medicine. Her stories of the island painted a picture of a mystical, magical land teeming with wildlife and unfettered Carolina coastal culture. Every time my fingers leafed through a Lowcountry ghost story, Daufuskie was the backdrop in my mind - pitch black woods, draped in silvery Spanish moss, jam packed with spirits.
Image Above: Cruising across the Calibogue in our 1973 speed boat
Somehow, probably due to the lack of a boat, I didn't make my first trip to Daufuskie until two years ago in September. Calvin and I bought a 1973 speed boat and headed to the coast to figure out if we were "boat people." (Owning an antique boat taught us that we are "new boat people.") We embarked across the Calibogue Sound as the sun started to fall behind the trees of nearby Palmetto Bluff and arrived at Daufuskie's Freeport Marina as the night herons made their way to the docks. Broiled shrimp and cheap bourbon have never tasted as good as they did at the marina that night, hot and tired from a long day of travel. We found our accommodations at the end of a long, dark, sand road. Cars and pavement are scarce on the island. As we approached the Hinson White Lesesne house, one of the island’s oldest examples of residential architecture (and available to rent here on AirBnb), I held tight to Calvin's arm. Night on the island is phenomenally dark - simultaneously peaceful and unsettling.
Image Above: The Hinson White Lesesne House
We fell asleep around midnight and woke the next morning to the whinny of a marsh tacky foal, hungry for breakfast. Marsh tackies are the island’s native horse, descended from Spanish colonial horses that were used to explore the wetlands around the island. The Daufuskie Marsh Tacky Society is working to repopulate the island with these beautiful beasts and one of their stable yards graces the rear portion of the Hinson White Lesesne property.
Images Above: Marsh Tackies
We spent the next two days exploring the island by land and sea - visiting home studios of local artists and artisans, eating deviled crab at Lucy Bell's in lawn chairs under the awning of a live oak, watching bald eagles aloft, and walking the scarcely populated expanse of Bloody Point Beach at sunrise and in moonlight. Some places get under your skin but a few burrow their way to your heart. For us, Daufuskie Island is one of those places.
Images Above: Eagles spotted on Bloody Point Beach
We started Calvin Wright Spaces, LLC to provide affordable, travel-inspired, second home plan sets for individuals who share our affliction of wanderlust. When we sat down to work on this passion project, Daufuskie Island was the natural place to start - deriving inspiration from the island's robust spiritual and cultural history. In developing a concept we focused on the simple but magnificent architecture of old Southern coastal churches, like First Union African Baptist Church, Daufuskie Island's oldest building. We wanted to capture the simplicity of a primary mass and layering of secondary masses typical of these structures as well as the organization of public and private space observed in traditional spiritual architecture.
Image Above: First Union African Baptist Church, Daufuskie Island, SC
We wanted it to feel like a place where Delta Blues on old vinyl is always playing in the background; where you drink iced tea by day and whiskey by night; where you're always barefoot so you feel the difference between sun and shadow on the painted wood floors; where the songs of crickets and katydids serve as the backdrop for evening conversations with drop-by company. It is a place to enjoy Lowcountry Boil with friends; a place to read and write; a place where you appreciate the heck out of a ceiling fan; a place to revel in the elusive state of boredom that breeds curiosity and forces you to notice the bird in a nearby tree, the garden snake on the patio, the fireflies at dusk.
Image Above: Snowy Egret flying along Bloody Point Beach
Both versions of this plan set are designed for coastal applications. The Daufuskie Loft sleeps 2-4. It is a budget friendly 602 square feet with a comfortable sleeping loft, single full bath, efficiency kitchen, and screened porch - perfect for a couple's getaway or small family retreat. The Daufuskie One Bedroom is 1150 square feet and sleeps 6-8. It is the perfect family vacation house - featuring a full size kitchen with island seating, a 200 square foot sleeping loft, a full hall bath, a bunk space for the kids, and a generous master suite with a private bath and private screened porch.
Image Above: Elevation Rendering of the The Daufuskie One Bedroom
The Daufuskie Plan Set goes live for purchase online this evening. Check out more images and details at shopcwspaces.com and share with family or friends who are thinking about building a vacation or short term rental home. Our next plan set, The Brevard, will be released online in October - just in time for Fall in our favorite corner of Appalachia.
(Note to Our Wonderful Readers: We will be on vacation next week - we are picking up our new boat on Friday! There won't be a blog post on Monday, August 10 but I will return on the 17th with the details of our boating escapades along the Georgia and Carolina coasts.)
